Article of manufacture



Filedoct. 4, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIGJ III I lNl/ENTOR Y By C. N. STOVER Patented Apr. 29, 1941 ARTICLE OF IMANUFAC'IURE Clyde N. Stover, Baltimore, Md. assignor to Western Electric Company, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application October 4, 1938, Serial No'. 233,179

9 Claims.

This invention relates to an article of manufacture, and more particularly to an insulated electrical conductor.

In various phases of the electrical art it is desirable in many instances to be able to distinguish one electrical conductor from another in dark or poorly lighted places where distinguishing characteristics are not visible.

Objects of the invention are to provide a simple, eflicient and practical article of manufacture.

With these and other objects in view, one embodiment of the invention comprises an electrical conductor having a covering formed thereon with indicating variations rendering the conductor not only visually distinguishable from others but distinguishable therefrom by the sense of touch.

, Other objects and advantages will be found in the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view of a knitting machine by the aid of which the article may be manufactured;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectionalview oi the cams for actuating the needles;

Fig. 3 is a schematic illustration of the relationship between the needles, cam lobes and thread supplies for forming one type of article;

Fig. 4 is a similar schematic illustration of the relationship between the needles, cam lobes and thread supplies for forming another type of artiole;

Figs. 5 and 6 are plain developments showing the patterns of the knitted structures made with the apparatus conditioned in accordance with Figs. 3 and 4 respectively, and

Figs. 7 and 8 are fragmentary views of articles, respectively including the knitted coverings shown in Figs. 5 and 6.

Referring now to the drawings, particularly Fig. 1, the apparatus, by the aid of which the article may be manufactured, is shown mounted ered with a knitted tubular covering, is passed.

guides are withdrawn from stationary cops (not shown) from which the threads are removed over one end. of the cops without rotating the cops, as is well known in the art. 1

Mounted in the housing H is a needle bed or cylinder ll having radial slots cut therein'in 23, but relative rotational movement is prevented by the keys. The lower end of the needle cylinder is threaded and a sleeve 28 is inserted into the lower end of the cylinder support 23 and 'is threaded onto the needle cylinder. A lock nut 21 is threaded into the lower end of the cylinder support and engages the sleeve 26 to retain the sleeve in position. Surrounding the needle cylinder is a cam housing 23 supported upon a cylindrical cam support 29. The needle cylinder and the needle support are Journalled in ball bearings 3| and 32 in the cam support 29, and the entire rotating mechanism .is supported in a ballbearing 33 mounted in the lower portion of the housing II and a bearing 34 in the upper portion of the housing. Within the cam housing 23 is a lower cam section 35 which fits into the cam housing, and rotation relative to the cam housing is prevented by a key 36. The upper cam section 31 is spaced from the lower cam section, to form a groove into which the butts 20 of the needles project, bya ring 33 which fits-snugly within the cam housing. The upper cam section is similarly held against rotation relative to the cam housing by a key 39. In order to hold the several sections of the cam in place an annular ring M is threaded .onto the cam housing 28.

In operating a knitting machine it is frequently necessary to'remove certain of the needles or change one or more of the needles which become broken or defective, and it is desirable to be able to do this without removing the entire needle cylinder from the apparatus. For this purpose a slot is formed in the upper cam section, and a key "which normally closes the slot is placed therein. This key has a sloping portion 43 which corresponds to the slope of the cam groove at this point. Thus when it is desired to remove a needle the nut 22 and disk 2| are removed from the upper endof the cylinder: then the annular ring ll is removed, which permits the key 42 to be withdrawn from the slot. The cylinder may then be rotated relative to the cam so that any one of the needles is in alignment with the slot and may be withdrawn upwardly from the needle cylinder without removing the needle cylinder from the machine.

It is preferable to place the slot through which the needles are drawn on the leading slot of a cam lobe in the direction of rotation of the cam. Referring to Fig. 2, if it is assumed that the portion of the cam having the slot therein moves from left to right, it will be noted that the butt of the needle will ride on the lower side of the cam slot while the needle removing slot is on the upper side of the cam slot. By thus arranging these parts it has been found that the key 42 may be omitted from the slot without interfering with v the operation of the needles.

The cam support 29 may have a beveled gear ll integral therewith, and the cylinder support 28 may have a beveled gear 45 secured thereto. Cooperating gears 48 and 41 are mounted on a drive shaft ll and, in the particular embodiment of the invention illustrated, the cam is rotated at three times the speed of the needle cylinder and in the samedirection.

During the operation of the knitting machine the needle cylinder l1 and the cams l5 and 31 are rotated at different speeds relative to the stationary thread supplies and if the needles ll were equally spaced in the cylinder a knitted pattern as illustrated in my copending application Serial No. 218,301, filed July 9,1938, would be formed with equally spaced wales forming a covering, on the conductor threaded through the machine. substantially uniform or even throughout its circumference.

By placing another needle, as indicated at l (Pig. 3), between two of the equally spaced groups of needles in the cylinder an additional wale may be added to the covering Ii without varying the positions of the original wales. This additional wale results in the forming of an identifylng rib '2 (Figs. 5 and 7) as the threads forming the loops in this added wale tend to lie between the loops of the adjacent wale, but as there is not suflicient space upon the circumference of the core for the three closely adjacent wales the additional wale is forced outwardly or caused to lie somewhat upon its adiacent wales. As illustrated in Fig. 5, the wales extend spirally about the core and the courses extend longitudinally thereof. The rib 82 formed by the added wale therefore is formed spirally about the core and may be visually distinguished from other uniformly covered cores. Furthermore, in dark or poorly lightedplaces a person may readily distinguish a' core covered as ilhistratedin Figs. 5 and 7 by passing his fingers longitudinally of the covered core and in so doing will bring them in contact with the rib. If desired", other needles may be disposed between others of the equally spaced needles to form, if desired, more than one identifm rib.

The arrangement shown in Fig. 4 is to condition the knitting machine to form a covering on the core with a different type of tracer or identifying means. The type of tracer formed by this illustration of the machine is a depression or groove in the covering formed on the core. This is accomplished by removing one or more of the original equally spaced needles in the carrier. As

a result thereof one or more of the wales is re moved without disturbing the positions of the other wales. In Fig. 6 one of the wales is shown removed to provide an identifying portion 53, and in this space lie only longitudinal thread bars connecting the spaced wales 54 and iii. The entire covering I6 is therefore formed of a group of equally spaced spirally extending wales, formed of the interconnecting loops of the successive strands, spaced readily determined distances by merely the thread bars of the various strands to form a spiral identifying groove or depression. This depression or groove is not only visually noticeable in a suitably lighted place but is readily noticeable by the sense of touch in a dark or poorly lighted place.

In various fields of the electrical art the conductors are disposed in pairs or groups and it is frequently desirable to distinguish certain of the conductors from the others. Although it is possible to cover the conductors with coverings formed of different color threads, making it possible to visually distinguish one from the other in a suitably lighted place, the variations in color do not aid in their distinction unless sufficient light is provided. Therefore, even in darkness conductors having coverings formed with the uneven identifying portions such as the ribs or depressions or both may be readily selected. The term. "uneven identifying portions is applicable to either embodiment as the majority of the needles are equally spaced and the portion of the covering formed by these needles will be even and uniform throughout, while the variations from the even portion, caused by the addition of a needle between two of the equally spaced needles or the removal of one of the equally spaced needles, will be noticeable, not only visually but by the sense of touch where light is not sufncient for visual identification. In both embodiments the thread used in knitting the coverings is of sufficient size so that the uneven identifying portions are readily noticeable.

The embodiment of the invention herein dis-- closed is illustrative only and may be widely modified and departed from in many ways without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as pointed out in and limited only by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An article of manufacture comprising an electrical conductor core, and a knitted covering for the core formed ofinterconnected wales, certain of which are unevenly spaced to form an identifying portion in the covering.

2. An article of manufacture comprising an electrical conductor core, and a knitted covering for the core formed of interconnected wales, certain of which are unevenly spaced to form an outwardly projecting identifying rib portion in the covering.

3. An article of manufacture comprising an electrical conductor core, and a knitted covering for the core formed of interconnected wales, certain of which are unevenly spaced to form an outwardly projecting identifying rib portion spirally about the core in the covering.

4. An article of manufacture comprising an electrical conductor core. and a knitted covering for the core formed of interconnected wales, certain of which are unevenly spaced to form an inwardly extending identifying depression in the covering.

5. An article of manufacture comprising an electrical conductor core, and a knitted covering for the core formed of interconnected wales, certain of which are unevenly spaced to foam an inwardly extending identifying depression spirally about the core in the covering.

6. An article of manufacture comprising an electrical conductor, core, and a knitted covering for the core formed of a plurality of equally spaced Wei-es and. an additional Wale disposed ed jaeexit two of the equally spaced wales and. proiect outwardly therefrom to form irleutlfy= Lu coverim'.

n of manufacture comprising core, a cove e core of a; pluirelity of o lily cell "lee d an additional Wale two the equally spaced vie-lea and projecting outwardly therefrom to form an identifying rib in the covering spirally about the core.

8. An article of manufacture comprising an electrical conductor core, and a knitted covering for the core formed of a plurality of equally spaced wales and two of the Wales spaced a greeter distance apart to form an identifying depres= sion in the covering".

All article of manuiacture comprlsiug an electrical conductor sore, and a lmitted covering for the core formed oi plural ty of eo sti spaced Wal and wo of the greater distance apart to in depression ill. the covering; spli ally 

